


Believe Again

by SolarArmageddon



Category: South Park
Genre: M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 06:37:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14373036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolarArmageddon/pseuds/SolarArmageddon
Summary: soulmate:(n) “a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner.”Everyone is born with a tattoo that represents their soulmate. When soulmates meet for the first time, the tattoo fills with color, glowing so brightly that it's impossible not to notice from that alone. Although the feeling of being complete, being loved and being cared for is always a bonus to the pretty light show coming from the tattoo.





	Believe Again

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this literal months ago but I never posted it oops

 

* * *

 

All of Craig's life he'd heard about soulmates and despite not fully grasping the concept at the age of five, he knew he wanted to meet his soulmate more than anything. With all the tales of the pretty tattoos, glowing brightly (he'd always found this part the most exciting, having always imagined how the large moon and the array of stars that rested between his ribs would look in color once he met her) at last and how it was love at first sight, how could he not? He'd spend hours daydreaming about a girl- preferably a blonde or a redhead, but he wasn't picky- who he'd one day meet and sweep off her feet. That was ten years ago, though. Now all he daydreamed about was pretty boys, not even just his soulmate.

       _The system is bullshit anyways..._

      Time after time Craig had witnessed couples bound by their tattoos fall apart quickly, his own parents included. If they couldn't even keep their shit together after two kids, he doubted he could keep in his soulmate’s good graces for more than a month. He wasn't ever a very loving person anyways.

       

 

* * *

 

**September 3rd, 2017**

       Craig Tucker was fifteen when he started tenth grade, a bottle of coke in one hand and pack of smokes in the other.

       He had left his house at seven o'clock sharp, Ruby, his little sister, shooing him out the front door while going on about how her friends, Ike and Firkle, were going to be walking to school and she didn't want her "embarrassing older brother" around when they showed up.

       Obviously he found that ridiculous, especially since he knew the kids Firkle usually hangs out with. They LARP and read poetry in the local graveyards on a regular basis. Ike wasn’t any better with his whole “Canadians are superior!” mindset despite having been adopted from there years ago and having lived in Colorado for the majority of his life. Craig was pretty sure whatever his weird was, it wasn't anywhere as weird as either of their weird’s, but he didn't bother voicing his thoughts.

       Anyways, even if he had wanted to stay longer he couldn't. Clyde was just walking up his front steps for their usual walk to school and would've been banging on the door harshly as soon as he had made it there if it wasn't for the fact that Craig had already been stumbling down the steps with a scowl on his face.

       "What, your parents kick you out?" Clyde snickered, jogging up the two steps between them to latch onto Craig's arm and start pulling him back towards the road and towards their bus stop.

       "No, Ruby did," he said, a smile tugging at his lips and after that no more words were passed between the two. Although Clyde was a loudmouth, he knew when to shut up and morning walks were one of those times. Craig liked to enjoy his scenery without an obnoxiously high voice shouting about cars, girls and sports into his ear, especially since he hadn't had interest in any of that since he was about ten.

 

* * *

 

 

       By the time they had gotten to school, Craig didn't even have time to finish his cigarette from earlier. The bus had gotten to the stop late and despite him having started smoking it on the way to the bus stop, he had to put it out as the bus rolled over the hill to pick them up. This is why Craig had stumbled into class late, left hand clasped a little too tightly around his menthols, the half burnt cigarette resting behind his ear, and his shaken up coke in his right hand.

       It was quite the entrance, really, him panting heavily and calling out a raspy "I'm here!" in the middle of the new kid’s introduction, but he had ignored the glares and chuckles as he flung himself into a desk next to Bebe and his cousin, Red.

       He had even ignored the itching feeling between his ribs that had began as soon as he entered to classroom, assuming it was just his shirt rubbing against the spot a little too much for his skin’s comfort. Well, at least he ignored it until the kid in the front had pulled up his sleeve a bit, glancing down at the tattoo on his wrist. It was a bit on the small side, but it was still recognizable from where he sat, especially with how it was glowing bright oranges, yellows and gentle reds. A sun.

       He itched at his tattoo a bit, looking over the boy with slight interest, but mostly fear. He didn't want to meet his soulmate, _not now at least..._

       The boy was pretty...in the same way your favorite pet rat was. His teeth were crooked and some were even missing, Craig noticed as the boy smiled brightly, eyes scanning the crowd for anyone who was showing any signs of panic, excitement or _something_ that just screamed "soulmate!!" His blue eyes were beady, blonde hair tangled and messy under the orange hood that was pulled tightly around his head by the mismatching black drawstrings. He was lanky, with limbs that looked like they could only lead to injury, but his face was pretty. _Really,_ _really_ _pretty._ His skin was pale and soft looking, free of acne but covered in freckles that looked as if they'd been splattered on with a thick paint brush. He had dimples and chubby, red cheeks that may not have been particularly cute, but Craig thought it was oddly adorable.

    _So this is what the whole "love at first sight" bit is about...Right? It has to be. You can't literally fall in love at first sight, at least not with the person, but you can fall in love with their looks._

       "You!" The kid suddenly yelled, pointing at Craig as he rushed to put his soda and cigarettes away so he could avoid eye any accidental eye contact with the boy. He was trying to seem as unsuspicious as possible in this whole "guess who's the soulmate!" game the kid was probably playing in his head, knowing what would come if he did figure out it was him.

       The cigarette fell from behind his ear as he whipped his head up, realizing it was in fact him he was yelling at, and not some other person like he had hoped it was.

       "Y-yeah? What?" Craig croaked, trying to steady his voice, but failing miserably. He clutched at his shirt where he knew his tattoo rested, glowing brightly to the point where it was starting to shine through his shirt. He was caught. He was totally caught.

       By then, everyone was staring at the two, starting to realize what was happening then. Whispers of "Soulmates" spread around the room quickly, a few even commenting about how they remember Craig once saying that he didn't even believe in soulmates.

       He was curious himself because he was currently unaware of how to react without embarrassing himself and the new kid simultaneously. Even though he was known for being cold, he wasn't entirely terrible. He didn't want to ruin this kid’s first day at this hell-school. It's probably already bad enough as is.

       "Don't what me, you know what!" The blonde shouted, stomping his foot dramatically before pointing the same finger that had just been aimed at the noirette at the door.

       "We need to talk, excuse us," the boy said, smiling a sickeningly sweet, yet clearly fake smile at Mr. Garrison. With that, he turned on his heel and walked out of the door, ignoring the snickers that followed his retreating form.

       Craig sighed, picking up his cigarette from the floor and slipping it back behind his ear before following the still nameless boy out of the room. It wasn't like there was much else he could do, not without causing a huge scene, at least. He dragged his shoes against the tile floor, making sure to scuff it just a bit to bother Mr. Garrison a bit more- he had always been a god-awful teacher, why not mess with him a bit?

       As soon as he stepped into the hallway, the boy had grabbed his hand and started leading him towards the back doors quickly, causing Craig to trip slightly and bump into the kid’s shoulder which he immediately apologized for. The boy ignored him, pushed open the doors and dragged Craig out with him. Once the door had finally shut completely, the first thing Craig did was pull the cigarette from behind his ear and place it between his lips while his soulmate stood in aggravation, mouth hanging open as if he'd been about to say something.

       "Listen kid," Craig started, pulling a lighter from his back pocket. He was about to light it and then continue, but was cut off just as he had opened his mouth to speak again.

       "Kenny," the boy said, glaring up at Craig.

       "What?"

       "My name is Kenny. Now continue with whatever you were just about to say," he replied, plucking the cigarette from between Craig's lips and putting it between his own. Craig sighed in aggravation, but decided against saying anything. He was about to break the kid’s heart, the least he could do was let him have kills on a shitty cigarette he bummed off one of the goth kids that sat behind the school for what seemed to be the entire day.

    “As I was about to say...I don’t believe in the whole soulmate system. More often than not, soulmates cheat or something before they even get married and if they even get that far without screwing up...well, it usually leads to a rocky divorce after they had kids in hopes it would save their relationship,”  Craig said, shrugging to make his spew of (almost entirely life experience based) emotional soulmate crap seem more casual. He had avoided eye contact with the shorter blonde the entire time, hoping to miss the pain, maybe even tears, in his eyes when he realized Craig had basically rejected him despite their souls being meant for each other.

    What he couldn’t miss, though, was the chuckle that came from Kenny almost immediately afterwards. It sounded bitter, but _hopeful_.

    “Sounds like your speaking from one bad experience, Craiggo,” Kenny said, pulling the cigarette filter from his lips and letting it fall into the snow between his badly spray painted orange doc martens. He lifted his left foot to put it out completely despite the fact that the flame had dissipated as soon as it made contact with the thin layer of white that coated the ground.

    “Yeah, more than one actually. Not that it’s any of your business really, but you’d hear about the soulmate thing in my family eventually, shit tends to spread fast around here.” Craig rolled his eyes, leaning back against the door for some support. His head was starting to feel a bit fuzzy with all this soulmate talk, and he could feel himself getting sick at just the thought of his parent’s relationship.

    “Well guess what, dude? You aren’t the only one with soulmate parents that broke up, but you don’t see me walking around like an emo mess, whining about how you ‘don’t believe in soulmates’,” Kenny quoted him, mocking his nasally voice badly while making air quotes. “And yeah, for awhile I thought soulmates were complete crap because of them, but then I came to the realization that, holy shit! My parents are terrible at everything and that’s exactly why they are soulmates. Just because your parents happen to not be made for the long run doesn’t mean we couldn’t be,” Kenny finished, huffing as he rolled his eyes.

        Craig had never really thought of it that way. Never really wanted to, either, if he were to be honest. What the hell does Kenny even mean by they weren’t meant for the long run, but we may be? Sounds like lies if he’s ever heard it.

        “You can think that all you want, but it won’t change the fact that I do-”

        “Don’t believe in soulmates- I got it,” Kenny interrupted with a sigh of aggravation. “I was just pointing out the obvious flaws in your thoughts on soulmates and based on the long pause you just took after I finished, you had never even considered what I said before. So before you decide to cast aside the person who is literally the only one who could ever make you feel whole, why don’t you sit on that for a few more days, at least.” He said, shrugging as he took a few steps backwards.

        “That’s all I’m gonna say for now, Craig. Talk to me again when you make up your mind and have actually thought about everything I said. And even if you decide soulmates isn’t your thing, we can be friends, yeah?” Kenny asked, leaning against the entrance to the school, pushing the door open a bit. Craig shrugged, still not meeting his eyes.

        “Maybe. I’ll think about that too.”

 

* * *

 

**September 7th, 2017**

    The next time Craig saw Kenny, he honestly wished he hadn’t.

    For whatever reason, that school year had started on a Friday and Craig had intended to spend his weekend doing anything but thinking of his soulmate. Of course, that didn’t work because not only did he think about Kenny almost all Saturday, but he had ran into him on Sunday. Well, not really ran into him. More like watched a couple kids in the grade above them shove him around for a few minutes before he got too pissed off and ran over to intervene.

    That takes us to the present. Where Craig is rushing to his soulmate’s side and crashing straight into the one of the boys as harshly as possible causing them both to fall to the ground.

    Craig had never been a great fighter, but he was still known for getting into them on a regular basis. Too bad that the fighting he partook in every so often didn’t improve his skills enough to keep him from getting messed up.

    He tried to get up quickly, shoving his knee into the older boy’s stomach as hard as he could which didn’t do much, but thankfully he had someone else on his side.

    _Kenny._

    He had almost forgotten he was there between falling to the ground and trying to get up, but when he felt slender arms wrap tightly around his stomach, he knew. His chest had filled with warmth and his stomach had exploded into a flurry of butterflies as he came into contact with his soulmate. Had Craig not had another boy pulling him back down and clawing at his sides, he probably would’ve felt comforted by this.

        Tugging harshly against the grasp that the other boy was holding Craig in, Kenny fell backwards as he had finally gotten the taller boy free from the others hold.

        “Get up, Craig!” Kenny yelled, pushing at his back harshly as he trying to force Craig onto his feet again, which in reality, only made it harder for him to stand.

        “Shut up, stop!” Craig snapped back, slamming back into Kenny’s chest before using the blonde’s knees to push himself up, his knees cracking in the process which made him hiss in pain.

_Stupid goddamn joints…_

        On his feet again, Craig looked towards the other two boys, one of which had finally gotten up and the other that had backed up behind his friend. The second was trying desperately not to look scared, but was failing miserably and it made Craig feel slightly better about this entire situation. At least if one of the boys could fight, the other probably couldn’t or was too nervous to whereas he definitely could fight and he had a hunch that Kenny probably could and just didn’t wanna get into one in the first place.

        His hunch was correct.

        As soon as Kenny had scrambled to his feet after Craig, he had almost immediately punched the boy closest to him dead on his nose. The sound of bone cracking followed not even a second later, causing Craig to gasp and reel back before it even hit him what Kenny had done.

        The boy had stumbled back, clutching his nose as blood dribbled down between his fingers. His nose was crooked in a way that Craig had never even seen before, redness spreading across the bridge of his nose and around his eyes as they became watery from the pain.

        “Run,” Craig had muttered immediately, not wanting anything more to come out of this. Kenny nodded slightly, stumbling back as he glanced at his bloody knuckles before turning and starting to run off towards the icy sidewalks, Craig following not far behind.

 

* * *

        From that day on, Kenny and Craig had agreed to be friends until Craig figured out if he wanted a soulmate (well, he technically got one regardless, it was more of a question of whether he wanted romance with his soulmate or not). They had talked a bit and Craig had admitted he didn’t know why he even ran in like that. He just felt like he needed to and had been charging forward before he even realized what he was doing.

 

        At first their friendship was awkward and they didn’t know what they were doing. They were too scared to touch each other because of the feeling that came with it, but eventually the touches came naturally. And with the touches came soft, kind words of reassurance and a type of sweetness neither of the boys had ever experienced. And with those soft, kind words that without fail made Craig’s breathe hitch in his throat every time, came the kisses. They were on the cheeks, the nose, the forehead, the hand even! The kisses were anywhere that was deemed acceptable for a friend to kiss. Until the kisses were on each others lips and they came with whispered _“I love you”_ ’s and gentle caresses of each others faces, hips, and hands.

        Craig was in love. He believed in soulmates again.


End file.
